Young Adam and Afterlife scoop top awards
It’s the day after the night before and the Edinburgh International Film Festival has, sniff, come to an end – just as it has done 56 times before.
There were celebrations to mark the close of play at Ocean Terminal last night – and I think everyone agreed that there was more fun than you could ever dream of having in a shopping mall!
The theme of the bash was American Splendor so Jelly beans were distributed, (they eat tons of them in the film), as were hotdogs and slices of pizza in delivery boxes. There was dancing into the small hours on the dancefloor, with some revellers even spilling outside to the waterfront decking to get jiggy alfresco.
Harvey Pekar was rumoured to have come along to his own party – the film after all, takes a microscope to his life as a comicbook artist in Cleveland – but there was no sign of the man, as far as I could see. Either the famously paranoid and shy guy hadn’t felt in the mood for a party, or I just wasn’t looking for him in the right places.
Meanwhile, upstairs in the VIP bar, Richard Jobson was basking in the success of his film, 16 Years of Alcohol, given its first outing in Edinburgh during this year’s festival. Other actors from the film were there too – Ewan Bremner, and Laura Fraser who spent the evening chatting with co-star Elaine C Smith (who has a cameo as a recovering alcoholic in the film).
Awards
Everyone that was sober enough to still be thinking about films, seemed to be pretty pleased with the results of the afternoon’s awards announcements. Earlier in the afternoon, at the Awards Ceremony at the Balmoral Hotel, Tilda Swinton had arrived on behalf of the cast and crew of Young Adam to accept the Michael Powell Award for Best New British Feature. 16 Years of Alcohol had received a special commendation for the same prize.
Afterlife scooped the Standard Life Audience Award and director Alison Peebles was there to collect it, accompanied by the film’s producers Catherine Aitken and Ros Borland - and the film’s shining star, Paula Sage. For a film made on next-to-no budget (£200,000 – peanuts!) in next-to-no time, Peebles must be over the moon with her surprise hit of a movie.
And so, another year, another 100 or so films that have screened. There have been surprises – (who would have thought Disney animation, Spirited Away, would have film fanatics glued to their seats for 2 hours?) – disappointments – why, oh why did we not get to catch a glimpse of the Clint? (he pulled his film Mystic River out of all European Competition – no offence to Edinburgh we are told) – laughs (who could keep a straight face when Peter Mullan gave us his eloquent sum-up of Scottish sexual moeurs?) and some tears too (avoid In America or Afterlife if you are the type of person to get dewy-eyed over an emotionally charged episode of Eastenders).
It’s been a fantastic programme, a frantic few days and the most fun way I can think of to go square-eyed. EIFF was a blast - not as sunny as Sundance, not as flash as Cannes but just keeping it real Edinburgh style and having a good time! Who needs Hollywood? Film fans love Holyrood!
Until next time,
Claire x
